Quiksilver Open '05
Cherchez La Vérité
Sunday, July 31
We Like To SMUve It, SMUve It.
Gotta rush down to Elliot's for the BB meeting now, but just thought I'd say that today's CCA day, VIVACE was pretty fun, meeting up with people and all. I must have signed up for like 12-14 CCAs at least. Just try all la! Probably settle on 4 or 5 at most, since most of them are seasonal in nature.The new campus is still undergoing lots of construction, but from what we've seen today, it's HUGE! It's like we have our own Citylink Mall, with all the retail shops and restaurants/cafes right under our school blocks. There's quite a lot of potential for all that space. Sports will have to be done elsewhere though since there's a lack of greenary in town. Last I heard, the SMU rugby team may train at the Padang! How cool is that.
Pretty excited for things to start. It looks promising. =)
Saturday, July 30
Ravi Zacharias and... Rouge?
It's been such a hectic week with sports camp and all. And this weekend's gonna be just crazy. I'll just drop a short entry, seeing as how I won't be home much for the next 2 days.The Ravi Zacharias talk on Thursday was the first time I'd heard the man speak. He was talking abt 'A Life That's Lost It's Focus'. the talk lasted from 7 to 9pm, after which, I made my way down Orchard Road from Orchard Hotel to Peranakan Place, where Wen Zheng was taking part in his Hall Paegant Preview @ Rouge. Looking suave my man!
Dota with Eric, April and her PSC 'buddies' this afternoon, service and then supper at Adam Road.
Gotta be at Zhenghua Primary School for the SMU CIP thing tomorrow morning. PUNJ in the afternoon, and then Hanxian's birthday at night. Gonna be at Coco Latte Saturday for umm... oh am I allowed to reveal this? Anyway, gotta be at SMU Bukit Timah at 630am for the MOVE TO THE CITY! There's gonna be hippo buses and all apparently as we walk from Wisma to the City Campus.
VIVACE from Sunday morning till afternoon, and then BB meeting at Elliot's in the evening. God give me strength! Argh!
Friday, July 29
Thursday, July 28
Wednesday, July 27
Supernova: Smashing!
I can say with much sincerity that the SMU Sports Camp is probably one of the most enjoyable camps I've been to in a while! It was really fun with all the sports and games we managed to try out, the company was fantastic (I couldn't have asked for a better group to be in!), and it was undoubtedly very well organised. Even if our organisers claimed there were a few hiccups here and there, it wasn't apparent to any of the campers.So kudos to the committee and especially our facilitators, Yiling (Eric! in your cell group?!) and Melvin (Jay!). Great job guys! Deborah, En-Ning, Emily, Justin, Desmond, Lemuel, thanks for a great time. =) Only our group would actually go out for a midnight movie and KTV after such a intense day of activities! Onz sia!
Apparently, the budget for this sports camp was pretty big compared to previous camps, so we actually had Pasta Mania catered for lunch and dinner on all 3 days and a mega buffet on the second. A few lucky members from each group (20 groups in all) managed to take a stab at the G-Max Reverse Bungee ride at Clarke Quay, as the finale of the first day's 'Amazing Race'. Fencing, dragonboating, archery, touch rugby, ultimate frisbee, water polo, and some impromptu basketball while waiting for archery at the CC. Melvin 'Mr. Singapore-Nike-Freestyle-Champion' is just simply amazing I tell you. I'm still can't believe it's possible to do all that with the b-ball.
Takashi's Castle was simply hillarious, and so were the stage game shows (more wasabi sandwiches joyce? =)). It beats having every group coming up with a item. Half the time groups will just end up singing songs.
The whole camp gave me a good sense of what SMU is all about, and I'm really encouraged. Student opinion seems highly regarded from what I'm hearing and it's just so encouraging to hear from seniors that everyone is really proud to be part of the school.
SMUve this Saturday. We're moving to the city!
Sunday, July 24
Spiked Out. Shacked Out.
Will make this brief, cos' I'm just so exhausted right now. In short, the Beach Volleyball Open at Sunset Bay today was a blast. Thought we had to play just 1 game, imagine our surprise when we were told we had to play 5 matches in the group phase. From 9 till 2 plus in the afternoon. Our team won 1 and lost 4, haha, but it was fun la and turned out better than we expected, considering most of us don't play volleyball much and err...like we said, we just wanted the Quiksilver shirt! Got quite a few other freebies too (shameless I say!)! Haha.We met the eventual finalists in our last match and lost like 21-10 (1 set of 21 points per match). Heh, the most fun had to be when 2 of our PUNJ teams met. It was really down to the wire man! lost 23-21! Argh! All in all it was such a great time of fellowship with the PUNJers, and we had plenty of fun playing water captains' ball in the afternoon too.
Winning 11 and Yew Minh's after and now I'm back home, realising that I haven't packed for tomorrow's sports camp! Gotta be at SMU by 715am!!! Gulp. Later guys. Back on Wednesday night.
The Genesis Debate
From what a lot of my non-Christian friends tell me, one major stumbling block to them believing in God and the Bible, is the whole creation issue. Evolution, God creating the world in 6 days, and then resting on the 7th. etc. etc. It just doesn't seem to tie up with what science tells us. Or does it?We just started our series of Bible studies on Genesis at PUNJ, and I really have so many burning questions. Truly, Genesis is probably one of the most intriging books in the Bible (to me la at least). We're using this book for our Bible Study 'Beyond Eden' by Phillip Jensen & Tony Payne, and the introduction to this series of studies has whet my appetite for more. Let me share with you a few paragraphs...
"When we approach the first book of the Bible, and especially its first few chapters, there are always questions on our lips. Were the seven days of creation seven, 24-hour days? Does the order of creation square with modern theories about the evolution of species? Is there basic conflict between Science and Christianity? Is this creation account a space-time event or a myth intended to convey a purely religious meaning?
There has been fierce controversy. The Atheists hurl barbs at the 'head in sand' Creationists. The Creationists retaliate by exploiting gaps in evolutionary theory. Other Christians distance themselves from the Creationists, arguing that the integrity of Genesis can be maintained without a 24-hour day, 4004 BC creation. And it goes on. More importantly, in evengelism, we trade arguments about carbon dating and the latest in archaeological finds, and Jesus is lost in a sea of quasi-scientific confusion.
As we begin to study Genesis, we cannot help but have these concerns in our minds- concerns that owe more to biology and astronomy than the Bible.
While these questions are certainly legitimate, we must take care that they do not obscure the real message of Genesis. The key to all good research, including Bible research, is asking the right questions. If we try to find answers to our questions in Genesis- questions that Genesis does not answer- our search will be fruitless. We do not consult a street directory to find phone numbers. Nor should we consult Genesis to find answers to questions it is not the least concerned to the answer.
Moreover, if we are too obsessed with modern controversy we may overlook the searching questions that Genesis is asking us. These are questions of far greater moment than the details of some primeval chemical reaction. They are questions about the very nature of our lives. Does life have meaning? Do we, as persons have meaning? Should we think of ourselves as 'persons', or merely as apes that have learned to walk? But more of that in due time."
Fascinating. It's only gonna get more interesting from here.
Saturday, July 23
The Things We Do For Freebies II
So Grace says her cousin is one of the few people organising the Quiksilver Beach Volleyball Open this weekend at Sentosa. As such, a few of us (err a lot of us actually) get to enter the competition for free, instead of paying the team registration fee of 70 bucks.The main reason why we wanna join? Not for glory, not for seeing how far we can go in the competition, but really, we're just in it for the free Quiksilver T-shirt! Hopefully, we'll be able to minimise the embarassment that we may potentially put ourselves through tomorrow. =(
Volleyball can use legs or not ah? Kiddin...kiddin.
Good Food Galore
Ooh la la. Today was quite a gastronomical treat for me. Lunch at Sebestian's, this nice French restaurant at Greenwood Avenue (the estate behind NJ), my favoutite duck rice from Bukit Batok East Central after a nice swim for dinner, and finally Frog's legs porridge at Balestier for supper!I must say, Kermit tastes a lot better than I thought it would. Really like chicken! except more tender.
Gotta be at Nanyang Pri early tmr, so better go catch some shut eye now. Nite folks!
Thursday, July 21
The Daily Scoop
The Daily Scoop. Sunset Way. Excellent ice cream! Gives Island Creamary a run for their money. Unusually Apple, Lychee Martini (I like!), Bailey's, Durian (it's the real deal), and....Chilli Chocolate? Yes, it's made of what it says. It's not selling too well for some reason. Heh.Galatians 1:10
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.Wednesday, July 20
Monday, July 18
Hello Mr. Freeman
Just bought Halflife 2 (finally). If I don't reply your e mails or SMSes for the next few days, now you know why.Twenty-One
I just wanna thank everyone who remembered and flooded my inbox with birthday greetings yesterday! Haha. I really didn't want any party and all. Figured everyone's quite tired of going to 21st birthday parties (by July, how many have you attended?), and I'd hate to put ppl through the trouble of getting presents. Plus I really don't like being fussed over.So how did I celebrate? A nice simple dinner at Pattara Raffles City with the people I love most, Ah Ma, Dad, Mom and Dan (Don't worry Caleb, I still love you bro). The Thai food there is kickin'! Warning, all that masala curry makes you gasey though. *poot*
Thank you Ah Loong, Evelyn, Cherry, Daniel and Apes for taking me down to NYDC @ Holland V after dinner for a nice impromptu birthday celebration. Contrary to what Daniel thinks, whipped cream does NOT make a good hair mousse!
Sunday was really enjoyable. Up early to run/walk in Sentosa (with Danny, Ethan, Soon Wee, his friend and April), Soccer at Braddell with the True Way peeps(hit the crossbar a few times! Argh!) and finally dinner and supper with friends and family. Baybeats at Esplanade was really nice too. The atmosphere was a lot better than last year I felt. BUT I DIDN'T GET TO SEE ELECTRICO (more importantly, Amanda Ling). 20 minutes too late. Aww. Well they'll be at SMUve so maybe we'll see them there, if Hanxian's party doesn't end too late.
So now that I've officially got the "key to my lock", or am officially considered an adult, how do I feel? Old. Wiser? Well. That remains to be seen. Heh.
Saturday, July 16
Carnival
Had the worst possible start to the day. Woke up and checked my phone. 720am.720am?!!!
I had to be at Nanyang Pri by 730am! ARGHHH! I tell you, I've never changed into my clothes so quickly in my life. Except maybe that time back in OCS Sierra Wing when Suhaimi and I were the last ones in the platoon to fall in cos we overslept. Heh.
Anyway, thankfully there was a cab that happened to see me as I walked out my condo gate. Got to NYPS in 10 mins. The cab uncle was a speed demon. Heh.
The BB Cares Carnival took place today, and the boys were supposed to pick up our VIPs from the Moral Welfare Home before heading of to the carnival at the Police Academy. It was quite amusing seeing how the boys were just so chatty, noisy and hyperactive before meeting our guests. Once they were paired up with our guests, they all looked visibly uncomfortable and quiet! Haha! Rare sight!
I was very touched by the efforts of the boys to make our guests feel at home. You know they sincerely wanted to help. Our guests were either mentally challenged or elderly folk with no relatives, so this outing really meant a lot to them. Super funny la the kids. They were fine accompanying our guests for the 1st hour, but then by the 2nd hour they got distracted by the games and food stalls, so they left the guests with us and went off to do their own stuff! Argh!!! Ah well. Sorta anticipated that actually. =)
On a side note, really hope the PUNJers can get a team together for the Quiksilver Beach Volleyball Open coming up next week. Super rushed but I want my free T-shirt! And of course hopefully whoop some ass along the way. Heh.
Friday, July 15
Circle Xperiences, Bak Kut Teh and Durians
I gotta say the orientation was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. And as much as I was insistant that I would not do any more cheers during the camp...oh well.Kudos to my fabulous OG, the 3-1 Pyromaniacs! Ambrose, Debbie, Weiming, Denise, Carol, Jacq, Robin, Kanika, Esmond and of course JUSTIN (Yan Hui, it still feels damn weird calling you that, haha)! A big thank you to Ben, our facilitator. Much effort goes into organising orientations, so your efforts have not gone unappreciated. I must say I thank God for placing me in a group of really genuine and sincere people. I'm glad everyone got along really well, quite sure our paths will cross again sometime in the next 4 years in SMU.
We didn't walk from Macritchie to Chinese Gardens like I previously mentioned, it was more like Chinese Gardens to CDANS in Bukit Gombak, which we did in a smashing time. And as un-fun as Chinese Gardens initially sounds (go there play with lanterns ah?), the activities were quite enjoyable really. =) We'll meet up soon yeah?
Anyway I just like to say Founder's Bak Kut Teh ROCKS! You haven't tried? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! Go to Balestier right now! There was a TV crew from Hong Kong interviewing the diners there, and as Paul, Xiuling, Ruth (wokkie), April and I were tucking into our fab meal, the guy approached us and asked how it was, in mandarin no less. Hahaha. Paul was so funny and diverted the attention to April who was (unintentionally) hillarious! Your mandarin both better than mine la. I would just say "Hen Hao Chi!". haha.
Went off to buy some durians and popped by April's place to dig into the thorny treasures. Excellent! My throat's paying for it now, but I seriously have no regrets. =) Frog's leg porridge next week!
Monday, July 11
It's Outfield All Over Again
So the SMU orientation starts tomorrow. Will be gone for 3 days. I'm looking forward to meeting new people but I'm not expecting too much from the activities. From what i heard, we'll be pitching tents in Chinese Gardens, and walking from Macritchie to Chinese Gardens to get there. Ah well. Let's see what they do la. I guess if you don't have high expectations, it's that much harder to be disappointed. Haha.See you guys on Thursday.
Sunday, July 10
Pics from over the weekend. Caught this beautiful sight of the clouds on Ubin. It's not a rainbow, just the light radiating off the clouds
Gabe Survives The Weekend
Seriously damn shack. It all started with KTV on Friday night. When I sent out the mail telling everyone about it, I totally forgot that I had to be at Nanyang Pri Sch for BB at 730am on Saturday morning.Saturday:
Slept at 3am and woke up at 7am to take the 20 minute cycle down to NYPS. Thank God the streets were pretty quiet, cos'I was cycling with my eyes half opened. Quite dangerous actually. After sitting through my first parade session @ NYPS, I really feel the calling to serve there. As much as it sucks to leave Si Ling, after all the bonds I've made with the kids, I can probably serve in Nanyang better in the long run. Hopefully it's the right decision.
The kids were so cute man. Kinda noisy also la, but then again which primary school kids aren't? I look at them and I see minds waiting to be moulded. They say the character of a person is determined within the crucial early years of a persons life, and I really hope to be a positive influence on the kids, with what gifts I have been blessed with. Also found out there were quite a few white horses in the company. Sons of ministers, grandsons of ex-presidents, no wonder the teachers there quite stress when it comes to discipline. Heh.
Cycled back home, and then took a bus down to ARPC for PUNJ. Last workshop on Evangelism. The gist of the workshop was that to evangelise, we really have to "Become all things to man...", as it is quoted in 1 Corinthians 9: 19-23. In other words, in spreading the gospel, we have to make sure we're relevant to our target audience. So we did an exercise in which we broke up to our different groups depending on our uni/sch, and start to list the general characteristics of the ppl in that school. So I was in the group profiling SMU students. Once we had a general profile, we thought of ways in which we could evangelise in such a way that would appeal to SMU students specifically. It was very useful to say the least. I hope I'll be able to put it into practice soon.
Went for service after PUNJ, but was really sleepy. Kept doodling to stay awake, much to the amusement of Clare, Deborah and April. Sorry for distracting you guys. =( After which we adjourned to Holland V for a nice "tze char" dinner and coffee at TCC. Was almost left brain dead talking to Desmond about the "personal God" issue. Left Holland V at 10pm, only to sleep at 3am.
Sunday:
Woke up at 630am, met up with Eric and made our way to Changi Village for the Zhenghua Pri Sch camp recce. Got super pissed. Told us to be there at 9am, but we only left for Ubin at 1030am. Damn waste time man. Walked around Ubin from 11 till 3 looking for the checkpoints that we're supposed to bring the kids through during the camp.
Got back to mainland by 4pm, and proceeded to Suntec Marche with Hanxian and Chris to meet my Orientation Group for this Tuesday's orientation. They seem like really nice people that I'll be able to get along with so Thank God! Not everyone came though. Hopefully Tuesday will be better. Popped by the Ralph Lauren store to say hi to the guys before heading home.
i just thought i'd chronical this, cos'when I wake up tomorrow I'll probably won't remember much, since I was in a daze most of this weekend. Night guys. zzz.
Saturday, July 9
Oh Crap
It's 2.30am, I've come back from KTV not too long ago, and I'm configuring my new IBM T43. And I've gotta cycle down to Nanyang Pri Sch later by 7.30am for Boys Brigade. Following which, there's PUNJ and service in the afternoon.It's gonna be a looooong day.
Thursday, July 7
Disciples of the Naked Chef II
And so Wenzheng and I proceeded on our 2nd culinary adventure after our very successful Bacon and Cream Cabonara a few months back. *beams*A big thank you April, for the recipe! Heh, Spaghetti and Meatballs! Eh! I know what you're thinking. "How easy to make is that? just dump the spaghetti in boiling water and roll balls of meat!"
Give chance la. People are novices at this ya know. ANYWAY, we managed to get by with few accidents, apart from the fact that the garlic I was chopping turned into a projectile and almost killed Wenzheng, or that we put serviettes too near the stove which soon caught fire. But besides the minor setbacks, the meal was quite edible. Salt really counters all sorts of weird taste. Haha. Photos coming up soon!
On a side note, I really thought Paris would get it. Oh well. 2016 maybe.
Tuesday, July 5
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist"- Charles Baudelaire
Eh. What Doing Yoo?
-
Internship with EY. 14 May to 20 Jul -
Dim Sum Dollies! History of Singapore! 14 May to 20 Jul -
SMU Christian Fellowship Camp: God Dwells Here! 23 to 26 Jul -
Stand Chart Marathon 07. Dec 07 -
SMUCF December Bible Retreat. Dec 07 -
York with Apes Part II! 16 Dec -
Christmas in Prague! 24-29 Dec -
Back to Singapore. 3 Jan -
Back to School. 7 Jan - SMUCF Evangelistic Dinner. 15 Feb
- NUS Biathlon 2008. 17 Feb
- Singapore Biathlon 2008. 1 Mar
- SMUCF April Bible Retreat. Apr 08
- Internship. May-Jul
- Singapore Triathlon 2008. Jul 08
- Aviva Ironman Singapore 70.3. 7 Sep
- Cycling Trip. Peninsular M'sia East Coast?
- Kathmandu. ???
Tag. Or Forever Hold Your Peace.
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